U23s down to 11 players for qualifiers; but Suriname withdraws

The Trinidad and Tobago National Under-23 Team breathed a sigh of relief today as their Suriname counterparts withdrew from the Caribbean preliminary round of the 2016 Olympic qualifying campaign, which kicks off on Wednesday June 24 in Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) announced that Suriname, who were due to face the “Soca Warriors” at 5.30 pm on Wednesday, are out due to visa issues.

The Warriors will now play their opening competitive match at 8 pm on Friday June 26 against St Vincent and the Grenadines, which spares them from the embarrassment with barely half of their squad available.

Twelve Trinidad and Tobago footballers left for Puerto Rico yesterday to represent their country in the Olympic qualifying series. But only eleven got there.

Muhammad confirmed that Central FC attacker Nathaniel Garcia got as far as Panama before being turned back due to an improper visa. Garcia allegedly has a student visa that is no longer valid since he quit university last year and joined local Pro League club, Central FC.

“There was a possibility that he would have gotten in,” Muhammad told Wired868.

The versatile attacker’s failure to get to Puerto Rico means that national coach Zoran Vranes would have had just 11 players to choose from for Trinidad and Tobago’s opener against Suriname on Wednesday.

The farcical situation is the result of late visa applications from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) coupled with a technical glitch that handicapped the United States Embassy’s visa section.

Muhammad explained that the “Soca Warriors” applied for visas just before they entered a live-in camp on June 16.

“We had applied within the regular timeframes,” said Muhammad.

However, a consular message on the Embassy’s website stated that they experienced “technical problems” since May 26, which are not restricted to Trinidad and Tobago.

Photo: Trinidad and Tobago National Team manager David Muhammad.

“The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs is currently experiencing technical problems with our overseas passport and visa systems,” stated the US Embassy’s website. “This issue is not specific to any particular country, citizenship document, or visa category…

“Passport applications accepted overseas or after May 26, 2015 are affected by this delay. If you applied for a U.S. passport overseas during this time frame and have travel plans within the next 10 business days, please consider requesting an emergency passport…”

The problem proved disastrous to the National Under-23 Team.

There were only four visa holders within Vranes’ final squad, who were midfielders Neveal Hackshaw and Jelani Felix, goalkeeper Montell Joseph and United States-based forward Rundell Winchester had visas.

United States-based university players Adrian Welch, Xavier Rajpaul, Ricardo John and Leland Archer as well as the W Connection and Naparima College duo of Martieon Watson and Jabari Mitchell, who were all dropped from the squad at various points, were recalled by the Warriors solely because they already held visas.

And former National Under-20 midfielder Duane Muckette, who is on trial with New York Cosmos and was initially due to miss the preliminary round, was persuaded to return and help the squad.

Muhammad suggested that the Warriors were ready to play with a bare 11, even though there were just two defenders in the squad.

“Any defensive midfielder can also play in defence,” said Muhammad. “We have Neveal Hackshaw and Jelani Felix who can play left back. So that is not too much of an issue.”

Thankfully, that is now unnecessary.

Another eight players will know tomorrow whether they have been granted visas. And, if so, they will leave for Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

Subject to availability, their flights will touch down in Puerto Rico at either 3.15 pm or 4.17 pm.

Muhammad said Trinidad and Tobago were clearly not the only participants affected by visa issues. And, despite having an 11-man squad on the eve of a qualifying tournament, the manager congratulated his staff and players for their efforts in making the competition.

“I am very proud of the staff,” Muhammad told Wired868, “that, in light of the circumstances, we were able to put together a strong team to compete by Wednesday.

“That goes to show the depth of our squad. I am proud of the players too for making themselves available, especially Muckette.”

Photo: W Connection right back Shannon Gomez (right) runs at a Guyana Defence Force player during 2015 Caribbean Club Championship action.(Courtesy Sinead Peters/Wired868)

However, Muhammad said Gomez must have misunderstood the precise details of his dilemma, since the W Connection player was allegedly issued a green card that never reached him due to a family issue. As such, he required a temporary travel document called a “boarding foil” rather than a visa.

“We told him to speak with someone for a boarding foil,” said Muhammad. “I gave him a letter saying he was part of the national team and so on and asking for them to assist him. That’s what he went there for and they told him they cannot give it to him just like that.

“We had told him to sort this situation out for quite some time…”

The eight players were accompanied to the Embassy by Under-23 goalkeeper coach Nigel Neverson, who also needed a visa.

Photo: Trinidad and Tobago players celebrate a goal against Aruba during the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.(Courtesy CONCACAF)

They should all arrive in time to face St Vincent and the Grenadines on June 26 and then Puerto Rico on June 28. Only the group winner will advance to the next Caribbean qualifying round for the Olympic Games in August.

The Warriors are not out of the woods yet.

Tournament rules mandate that each team must select three goalkeepers. However, the Under-23s are only expected to have Joseph and Enill in Puerto Rico this week as Central FC custodian Javon Sample was denied a visa today.

“We will discuss that with (CFU officials) tomorrow morning at 11 am,” said Muhammad. “We will ask if that (rule about goalkeepers) can be amended or what their position is on that at this stage.”

It would be controversial if the CFU imposed sanctions on the Warriors for not selecting three goalkeepers in light of the visa complications.

It was the CFU, after all, that decided to stage a Caribbean competition on the one island in the region which requires travel visas.

Photo: Mucurapo East Secondary goalkeeper Aaron Enill (left) loses possession to St Benedict’s College forward Meriba Des Cartes (right) in the 2014 National Intercol final.Enil made his Pro League debut for San Juan Jabloteh last night.(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)

About Lasana Liburd

Lasana Liburd is the CEO and Editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.

I don’t disagree with you to a point Kendall Tull. What about player selection? Should the squad be selected 2 or 3 months in advance to facilitate with the anticipated issues with applying for a visa? There are many mitigating circumstances so let us stop saying they lack planning because that is not “always” the case.

You all cannot be serious. Why must we continue to excuse incompetence in our football administration. To suggest that this isn’t the TTFA’s fault for lack of planning is ridiculous. You cannot be telling me that it is ok to apply for visas and passports at the last minute when you knew in April that the tournament was brought forward. This is why we cannot improve. We always finding a reason to justify stupidity and incompetent administration. Steups.

Now this might be a stab in the dark here but I wonder if someone could tell me what the problem is? It seems intractable to me, not looking to blame but for solutions; lessons learned. “Football is simple. You are in time or too late. When you are too late, you should start sooner.” Johann Cruyff

I was tempted to use some superlatives in describing my utter disgust with the continous disrespect to our players both male & female (young & old). My personal, singular, bias opinion is if this is the wat sports men & women are to be treated then lets forget about sports in this country and then when all hell break loose the powers that be will fully understand the IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS

Yuh get the point Lasana Liburd… We are not the only team that may have players that might be denied a Visa for any reason. We know the US have one of the most stringent Visa requirements so it puts teams at a disadvantage. It has nothing to do with planning or lack thereof by the TTFA.

But the T&T U-23 goalkeeper was denied a visa though Prince Borde. He might have had an issue in his past that makes him unwelcome on US soil.
I think Brent Bennett has a point. We should have be having less tournaments on US soil not more.
(Anyway, let me not give those corrupt CONCACAF officials more excuse to hide from the FBI! Lol)

Brent Bennett nah that can’t be an excuse. How long before you should have the team set. You have a pool of players get them their visas way in advance so they can travel. Plan! Suriname and Trinidad want licks! There is no excuse for this

comedy fest 2015, so no one informed Garcia he cant travel on a student visa because he quitted school? Who assisted Quintero with his form? I heard he was denied because of his lack of information on an immigration form lets be realistic Ttfa received cash from Fifa why these lads wasnt carried to get visas before,? and last but not least why pro league players is without visas dont they earn a salary lets change our mindset if we wanna reach somewhere in this beloved sport call football.

Agreed the Visa thing is a problem. However CONCACAF needs to reevaluate where these tournaments are held. It is totally the subjectivity of the US Department of State to approve or deny a visa and why should a team be subjected to this? The only team that benefits in CONCACAF is the US. This has to change…

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